“Of course, I wasn’t home.” This simple
statement from “Where Home Is” defines the adventure that the
heroine, Dr. Katherine Davis, takes upon herself in 1910. Third in
the Laramie series by Karen J. Hasley, “Where Home Is” is the
story of the third child of John and Louisa Caldecott Davis, the
founders of the Davis generations. But it is not necessary to have
read the previous two books in the series, “Lily’s Sister” and
“Waiting For Hope” to appreciate this western romance novel.
Hasley is adept at creating compelling stand-alone stories while
gracefully bringing in family history when it contributes to the
story at hand.

While Dr, Davis’ adventure plays out in Chicago and
Laramie, Wyoming, the real adventure rides the emotional range of a
person who seems to have a clear sense of purpose for her life, yet
senses restless winds in her soul. Hasley brings in rich characters
in the form of a young girl, Petra, and a man, Douglas Gallagher, to
keep those inner breezes stirring. Set against vibrant Hull-House, a
settlement house in Chicago where Dr. Davis has agreed to serve as
the dispensary physician for a year, and with a glimpse into the high
society world of Gallagher, the contrast of an immigrant, working
class community from which Petra comes, and the privileged capitalist
life of Gallagher provides excellent counterpoint to Katherine’s
introspection as she examines her first year beyond the security of
family and school.

While drawn into the high-gear activity of her duties at
Hull-House and her slowly growing friendship with Gallagher,
Katherine finds her homegrown values and beliefs frequently under her
personal microscope. Threading them together, often in a tangle, with
her current life is the re-occurring question: where is home?
“Something else beckoned from the outside and drove from the
inside, although I couldn’t express that sensibly to anyone…”

But Hasley is not predicable in her storytelling and
that is what kept me turning page after page. Her deeply rooted
characters are all too real and therefore capable of branching off
into different directions at any time. However, the integrity of
Katherine and the family from which she comes provides the reader a
comfortable foundation from which to enjoy the action.

When Dr. Davis’ year of internship ends, she returns to her
family’s home in Laramie, Wyoming, still questioning where home is.
She struggles to hear that still, small voice inside that Petra
advised her to listen to and hopes that re-establishing her emotional
balance in familiar surroundings will quiet her heart. “There are
moments that redirect the course of our lives, moments so significant
and meaningful that ever after we use them as dividing lines to
separate what came before and what followed.” And thus begins the
final leg of Katherine’s emotional journey.

This novel will touch your heart and even bring
“fiddle tears,” as the Davis family refers to them, to your eyes.
It will remind you that even though progress is made and things
change dramatically from generation to generation, people and their
relationships to one another are the keys to understanding the
concept of home.